My cat loves going outside, staying out for several hours and returning late at night. We've told him numerous times to be careful, but this past weekend, he possibly got into a fight with another cat or another animal. He was scratched up, and I thought he'd lost a toe, which was not the case after a trip to the vet, thank goodness. He is declawed in the front, so he couldn't defend himself from attacks. :cry:

This clinched my decision to begin the transition from outdoor/indoor cat to indoor only. Is such a thing possible, turning a cat from outdoor or outdoor/indoor to just indoor? He's five years old, and I don't know if it's too late to change his ways now. The vet said that after she looked at him, he'd have to stay inside for a week. I agree with her decision, but I don't know how Ambre (my cat) will be affected. I know he'll be safer, but I don't want him to have to go through a weekend like that again.

When the weather is bad, I let him go as far as our breezeway, but that's it. I've also been doing that while he's been recovering from his ordeal. Before this weekend, I've kept our back door open, but it's only a crack, but I do have our screen door in front of it so he can poke his nose out and get some air. Should I continue to do that, as well as let him go in the breezeway? He goes up to my dad's studio too. We are careful to leave our garage door shut while he's out that far.

clm

October 24th, 2012 07:46 AM

Cats are safer indoors. None of mine go outside, ever.
A cat that has been declawed should not be going outside to wander, period.

clm

marko

October 24th, 2012 09:39 AM

CLM is so right!

On average indoor cats live YEARS longer than outdoor ones because outdoor cats gets killed by cars, get into attacks and suffer bite wounds or worse from other wild non vaccinated cats, or meet up with despicable humans that hate cats.

Especially given that the cat is declawed if this were my cat it would never see the outside on its own again. I might let the cat out in a cage on the balcony or i might allow the cat to be out on a leash under my direct supervision but those would be the only exceptions.

My cats do go outside but they are 100% supervised and have been trained where they are allowed. I, personally believe that cats benefit from the stimulation they get outside, but only if they are safe.

The trick with cats, is a schedule, and they will get used to what ever schedule you put them on, including, no outside time, or limited, supervised outside time. You may also want to consider a cat run/pen so they can get some outside time.

Barkingdog

October 24th, 2012 11:24 AM

I agree with the others that a cat that been declawed should never be allowed outside and especially at night . If you have raccoons around your house they could kill your cat , raccoon do eat cats. I recuses a cat that had his back bitten so bad by a raccoon I could see the cat bones and this cat had all his claws.

tezster

October 24th, 2012 12:51 PM

I adopted a pregnant stray several months ago. It wasn't easy, but she has slowly transitioned to being comfortable staying indoors. She had ran off on her own a couple of times before I finally decided to clamp down on that behaviour (no major incidents, but she left her newborn kittens for longer than I was comfortable with). For awhile, she drove me crazy with her late-night whining, which would go on for several hours daily, so I started taking her out on walks. This was also a challenge in the beginning- she was actually fine with the harness, but she would want to go everywhere she couldn't (under cars, in bushes, up to people's front doors, back yards, underneath fences, etc...). There were times where I was certain I couldn't co-exist with her in my home, and seriously considered giving her up.

Slowly but surely, she calmed down, and while she's isn't quite a 100% indoor cat yet, Newt's come a loooooong way. Not just with her outdoor tendencies, but her overall disposition is also better (not that she was a trouble-maker before, she was actually a perfect cat aside from her manic "let me out of this house!" episodes).

I guess the point I'm trying to make is, it's perfectly possible for a cat to be accustomed to being indoors.

Longblades

October 27th, 2012 03:01 PM

It might be difficult. A cat used to going outside is living a far more natural and wonderful life and may suffer from the sudden decrease in activity and stimulation. You can help him by playing with him and keeping him involved in the stalking/thinking games he played outside. Cats, I find, are much more active and energetic than many people think.

You may have some trouble getting him to be active during the day and not at night. Again, playing with him during the day will help with that. Tire him out in the day. LOL, how long can you drag a string around your house for him to chase?

An option you might consider is building him a secure outside cat run.

patchdog

November 17th, 2012 04:55 PM

None of our cats are allowed to go outside ever unless we are out there with them and then they are only allowed in their cat playpen. We feel safer doing this as all our cats are front declawed. We kept their back claws in case one did escape but thank goodness that has never happened!